I am about to admit something that I do not tell many people. After all, I'm not one to let other people's opinions of me dictate my actions, but I have to admit I do care a little of what people think. So, something that I don't usually admit to is being terrible at food storage. For almost 9 years, my mother-in-law has tried very hard to help me "catch the vision" of being prepared. She is one of the most prepared for emergencies women I think I have ever met. She has always had a year of storage built up, is actively involved in community preparedness, and has a home grown garden that she shares with us each harvest. Not only that, she actually rotates and uses her food storage continually. This is where my distaste for it all comes in.
I have a strong testimony of the gospel. I anxiously await conference every 6 months and yearn for the counsel the prophets give. I serve dilligently in my calling, read my scriptures, have daily prayers...I absolutely love the gospel. But, the one area I struggle with (aside from Visiting Teaching) is food storage. I really do not like doing it. I know it's a necessity, and we have needed to rely on it in the past. But, I just hate doing it, rotating it, buying it, storing it, you name it. I can always find something else to do that is more pressing. I proudly admit that my family's 72 hour kits are up to date. But a year's supply? I don't have the time or the money! I know it's important, but seem to always find a way of putting it off. Until now.
Obviously the economy is on the forefront of everyone's mind right now. I am not a nay-sayer. I am really a positive person. But, I have had several experiences this week that have really helped me to "catch the vision" of getting prepared. On Monday I drove Rebecca to Salt Lake and back for some minor surgery on her teeth. She watched a movie on the way there and was asleep almost the whole way back. So, I had plenty of time to listen to talk radio, which I love. I love Glen Beck. I respect his opinion so much. He is a conservative, but is more fair and balanced than many other pundits out there. As he talked about the current financial crisis we are in, it really made me stop and think. I really felt the Spirit as he spoke. I do believe we are headed for another depression. Oh boy!The next night were the presidential debates between McCain and Obama. I was absolutely sickened by the end. Here we are in one of the worst crises in our lifetime, and all they can both do is play the blame game. I realized that it won't really matter who wins this election -- there will still be so much bickering with parties in Congress, that nothing will get done. We will most likely continue to sink into a depression -- at least for awhile, until the market picks back up again. Which it will, I ha
ve no doubt. But, it will take some time.
ve no doubt. But, it will take some time.Then, on Wednesday night we had our Enrichment night, which happened to be on food storage for one year. "Ick", I thought. "Not again". "How boring". Really, the only reason I went was 1)I needed a break from my kids, and 2) the Young Women were involved with it, and since I am working with the youth, I needed to be there. How glad I was that I went. I finally got it. The Spirit has been whispering to me this whole week (well for a long time now, I just finally tuned in this week) to get going on this. What a difference this meeting made. I am on the band wagon, and starting right now.
Yesterday, I spent about an hour on-line trying to figure out how to start. I do have some storage, but it's a big job, and does take some organizing to figure out the needs of your family. I came across a great blog that I wanted to post a link to. How to get a year's supply in one year -- spending an extra few dollars each week for 52 weeks. It has helped me get started, and I thought I would pass it along to those who are feeling the same things I am. Life is great, and can be greater if we are prepared for tougher times ahead. Thanks to those who have helped me finally see the light!
5 comments:
I agree with everything you said. My mom is also very good about their food storage. She's helped me realize how important it is. We spend a portion of our tax return on food storage and sometimes even our Christmas money on it. Not necessarily a fun thing to spend money on. It is overwhelming to do it all at once, so we also buy our year supply all year long. The philosophy I love regarding food storage is "store what you eat, and eat what you store." I'm not into buying all the buckets of food we'll never rotate because we won't eat it. Anyway, thanks for sharing and that's great you caught the vision.
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Yipeee! Another convert to preparedness! I love the 52 week list - I have seen several versions of it over the years and they all have good ways to do it. One way we got help putting our food storage together over the years was asking for it for birthdays or Christmas (boring I know but it was the only way we could afford it sometimes) - or the money to get it ourselves at case lot sales or the cannery. I know the Elder Grandparents are looking for ideas for Christmas - I told them I wanted preparedness items.
Also, you can order certain basic cannery items like rice, wheat, oats, beans, etc. from LDS distribution and they will ship it free to your house. I keep most of our bulk storage downstairs in the basement storage closet and only bring up one can at a time as we use.
My big trial is gardening - I kill tomatoes every year. This year I grew them at a neighbors house and they survived. So, tomatoes down (as long as I don't grow them in my own back yard I guess), we'll try squash and corn next year. But we are going to try to plant some fruit trees next spring -peach and apple, maybe a plum, some rasberry bushes, we'll see how oranized we get.
Did I tell you I got called as the Stake Preparedness Specialist? I'm gonna bug you now. :-)
when you become expert food storage Laurie you can give me advice. all i have are ramen noodles, beef stew and some soup. i do neep help too.
I have about 10 huge buckets of wheat so if you ever run low/out let me know, I'd love to share just so we can hang out while we're trying to grind it into flour!
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